International Journal of Mathematical Education in

Science and Technology, Vol, 36, No, 7, 2005, 713-719

f ^ ) Taylor & Francis

V _ y Tayio,6.F,.iscroup

Analysis of student beliefs in a tertiary preparatory

mathematics course
C, CARMICHAEL* and J, A, TAYLOR
Office of Preparatory and Academic Support, University of Southern Queensland
(Received 2 May 2005)
Every year approximately 800 students enrol in the tertiary preparatory course
TPP718t at tfie University of Southern Queensland, Successful completion of this
course will allow students to enrol in either further preparatory level mathematics
courses or undergraduate study. For many ofthe students enrolled in this course,
the study of mathematics was undertaken quite some time ago and usually in a
school setting. Drop out rates for this course are quite high and it is hypothesized
that motivation may be a key factor in determining student success or otherwise.
In this study scales assessing self-efficacy were utilized in an attempt to gauge
aspects ofthe motivation of students enrolled in the course, tnitial results suggest
that only specific measures of student confidence predict their performance and
that both gender and age mediate the strength of this prediction.

L Introduction
The cost of failure at university studies to a community and the individual, both in
social and financial terms, can be quite high and there is an imperative to better
understand the factors that affect students' academic performance. Educational
research into student achievement has broadly focused on two major areas: cognition and motivation [1], In the area of cognition, researchers have found that factors
such as prior knowledge and the use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies will
influence the type of learning undertaken and consequently student achievement.
In the area of motivation, research has concentrated on why learners display certain
behaviours and how these in turn affect their achievement. Some evidence suggests
that motivational factors may in fact play a more important role in the prediction of
academic achievement than cognitive factors [2],
The purpose of this study was to investigate motivational effects on the
performance of students in a Tertiary Preparatory Mathematics Course with particular focus on student confidence in their ability to succeed in mathematics as
the primary motivational effect. Secondary purposes of the study were to investigate
the relationship between student beliefs on intelligence, their confidence
towards mathematics and their subsequent performance;

*Corresponding author. Email: Colin,Carmichael@usq,edu,au

tntenialional Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology
ISSN 002O-739X print/ISSN 1464-5211 online 2005 Taylor & Francis
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: 10.1080/00207390500271065

C, Carmichael and J. A. Taylor

the relative predictive strengths of mathematics confidence measured at three

levels of specificity; confidence to succeed in the course, confidence to succeed
in a mathematics topic and confidence to succeed in a specific mathematics
question.

2. Theoretical framework

The underlying framework for this study is based on Bandura's social cognitive
theory [3], which maintains that even if a student has received reinforcement in the
past for displaying a certain desirable learning behaviour, they must believe in the
value of this behaviour if they are to continue displaying it. It is student beliefs about
the value ofa learning activity, their expectation of success and their enjoyment of it
that will motivate them to undertake it [4],
Several constructs have been established in order to gauge the effect of
motivation on student achievement and considerable research has been directed at
two of these; achievement anxiety and self-efficacy. Anxiety regarding the consequences of failure is known to motivate undesirable learning behaviours, which in
turn result in diminished academic performance [2, 4-6], Belief in their confidence
to succeed in a given task (self-efficacy) is known to motivate desirable learning
behaviours in students leading to subsequent academic success [7-t 1], It is known
that these two factors are inversely correlated [4, 12] and Bandura [3] argues that
when anxiety is known to correlate with performance this relationship diminishes or
disappears altogether when the effect of self-efficacy is removed. For this reason,
it was felt that the current study into motivational effects should concentrate on
self-efficacy.
Self-efficacy is known to predict achievement in mathematics [10-12], however, it
is hypothesized that student beliefs on the nature of intelligence may in fact mediate
this relationship. This hypothesis is supported by Stodolsky [13], who suggests that
mathematics is an area in which student views on intelligence play a dominant role in
performance. It is known that a student's belief regarding the nature of intelligence,
that is whether it is a fixed entity (you either have 'it' or you don't) or whether it is
incremental (you can improve your intelligence by learning new things) will influence
the type of learning behaviours that they adopt [14], This study seeks to investigate
the relationship between student beliefs on intelligence, their confidence towards
mathematics and ultimately their performance.
Evidence reported in a meta-analysis of self-efficacy studies by Multon et al. [9],
suggests that the effect on performance of self-efficacy will be greater for older and
low achieving students. As many of our students fit into this category this study seeks
to investigate the mediating effects of age and previous achievement on mathematics
self-efficacy and mathematics performance. In this study we also examine the effects
of gender on both self-efficacy and performance.
Research shows that the strength of the association between a student's
self-efficacy and their educational performance relies on the proximity (both in
time and in nature) of the self-efficacy measure to the performance measure.
Using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MLSQ) [4], which is
a general measure of self-efficacy, McKenzie et al. [15] found a 0,19 correlation between student confidence in their ability to succeed in a course and their

Analysis of student beliefs in a tertiary preparatory mathematies eourse

715

subsequent performance. Pajeres and Graham [10] on the other hand, were able to
obtain a correlation of 0.57 between student confidence in their ability to solve
specific mathematical problems and their subsequent performance in these problems.
Using an item that is too specific, however, defeats the purpose of research, making
the results too contextually based to be useful [16]. In an attempt to overcome
this conflict between strength of association and applicability of results, Nielsen
and Moore [17] developed a scale of intermediate specificity that assessed
student confidence in mathematics topics (Mathematics self-efiScacy scale). One of
the purposes of this study was to assess the predictive strengths of self-efficacy
in mathematics at three levels of specificity:
self-efficacy at the course level ('I am confident I can succeed in this course');
self-efficacy at the topic level ('I am confident I can solve a problem using
algebra'); and
self-efficacy at the question level ('I am confident I can solve the equation

y = x + T).
Pajeres and Miller [12] make the point that self-efficacy is task specific. They argue
that items asking students to provide an assessment of their confidence in
mathematics in general are not assessing self-efficacy but mathematics self-concept.
We regard this argument as academic. The purpose of this study was to assess the
motivational aspects of students in a tertiary preparatory context. We believe that in
this context confidence towards mathematics (whether it is towards specific tasks or
is more general) will provide significant motivation for our students to adopt positive
learning behaviours and to ultimately achieve. We will use the term mathematics
confidence to describe student beliefs regarding their confidence to succeed in
mathematics at both the general and the specific level.

3. Background to the study

The Tertiary Preparatory Program (TPP) at the University of Southern Queensland

(USQ) was established in 1989 and is one of the largest access and equity initiatives
in the Australian higher education sector [18]. 'Mathematics Level A' (TPP7181), a
core TPP mathematics course, aims to provide students entering 'non-mathematical'
undergraduate courses with pre-requisite mathematical knowledge and skills. The
course includes topics on numeracy, descriptive statistics, introductory algebra and
some preliminary work on functions (primarily linear). Details of the content and
curriculum design are described in Taylor and Mohr [19].
Students enrolled in the preparatory program (median age 29 years) are generally
older than students enrolled in the University's undergraduate courses (median age
25.5 years). Many students entering the program come from sub-populations that
are not traditionally represented at university, they have not studied formal mathematies for many years and often have a history of lack of success in school
mathematics. These students are reported to have reduced levels of enjoyment of
mathematics compared with traditional recent school leavers [19]. The TPP is
regarded by the University as an important mechanism for addressing access and
equity problems in the community, with approximately 30% of successful students
subsequently enrolling in a USQ award programme and 19% in other tertiary
programmes [18]. Many students, however, fail to meet the expectations required of

716

C Carmichael and J. A. Taylor

them and withdrawal rates are quite high. In the mathematics course TPP7181
an average of 30% of enrolled students withdraw from the programme each semester
and of those who remain between 40% and 45% do not receive a passing grade.

4. Research design and methodology

A self-report questionnaire was developed with items adopted (in most cases) from
existing validated scales. Items from the popular MSLQ [4] were used to assess
student confidence in their ability to succeed in mathematics at the course level. The
Mathematics Self-efficacy Scale [17] was used to assess student confidence in their
ability to succeed in mathematics topics. A scale was written to assess students'
confidence in a sample of 10 specific mathematics questions. Items to assess students'
beliefs about intelligence were adopted from the 'Entity related Beliefs and Effort
Scale' [20]. The final instrument thus consisted of five hypothesized scales:
Scale C-confidence in ability to succeed in the course (8 items).
Scale T-confidence in ability to succeed in a specific mathematical topic
(12 items).
Scale Q-confidence in ability to succeed in a specific mathematical question
(10 items).
Scale E-measure of entity beliefs on intelligence (6 items).
Scale I-measure of incremental beliefs on intelligence (6 items).
After a small pilot study involving a prototype questionnaire and interviews, final
questionnaires were sent out to all students enrolled in Tertiary Preparatory
Mathematics Level A (TPP7181) for semester 1, 2005. In all 364 were posted and
129 were returned (50 were male and 79 female). In 50% of cases, more than 10 years
had elapsed since the students had last undertaken formal studies in mathematics
(in 25% of cases this was more than 20 years). The final questionnaire included the
five above scales as well as demographic data on age, gender, years since study, and
was accompanied by a routine mathematics readiness test.
Factor analysis was used to assess the factorial structure of the instrument. The
concurrent validity of scale Q was evaluated through a comparison of responses with
the validated scales C and T. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach's
alpha.
Student results in their first course assignment, which was due soon after the
commencement of the semester, provided an initial measure of their performance in
the mathematics course. Ofthe original 129 respondents, 20 had withdrawn prior to
completing their first assignment. In this initial analysis it was felt appropriate that
these students be awarded zero for their performance in the first assignment.

5. Initial results

5.1. Assessment of the hypotttesised scales

Factor analysis of scales C, T and Q indicated the presence of one underlying
factor in each case that accounted for 57%, 57% and 6 1 % of the variance
respectively. These factors were then used in subsequent analyses under the titles

Analysis of student beliefs in a tertiary preparatory mathematics course

'course confidence', 'task confidence' and 'question confidence' respectively. The
factorial structure of the remaining scales was less evident and no attempt was made
to retrieve an underlying factor that explained student beliefs regarding the nature of
intelligence. Internal consistency for the scales C, T, and Q was 0.85, 0.94, and 0.87
respectively.
5.2. Correlations between self-efficacy scales, existing
knowledge and performance
Correlations were calculated between the three self-efficacy scales, student results
in their maths readiness test (M-test) and student performance in their first
mathematics assignment. These are shown in table 1.
Course, topic and question confidence measures were strongly correlated with
each other. These measures were also correlated with prior knowledge (M-test), with
the more specific measures (Question confidence) correlating more strongly than the
less specific measures. Only prior knowledge (M-test) and question confidence
correlated (and this was weakly) with academic performance.
5.3. The effect of age and gender on confidence
Females consistently reported lower levels of confidence than males. This difierence
was more pronounced for the more specific measures of confidence. There were no
significant differences in prior knowledge for females and males nor were there in
academic performance.
Similarly, students who had spent a longer period of time since last studying
mathematics reported lower levels of confidence. This relationship was strongest
between task confidence and time (r = 0.330**). There was no evidence of a
relationship between this time and actual student performance.
5.4. Student beliefs on the nature of intelligence and their confidence
towards mathematics
As previously reported, the factorial solution for the 6 items that assessed an entity
view of intelligence and the 6 items that assessed an incremental view of intelligence
was inconclusive. Nevertheless, very few students strongly adhered to an entity view
of intelligence. Based on a sum of raw scores (each one ranging from 1 to 5) for these
six items, only 8.5% of students scored a total of 18 or more out of a possible 30.
In other words these students tended to agree with statements such as 'it doesn't

Table 1. Study correlations.

Scale C
Scale T
Scale Q
M-test
Assign. 1

Scale C

Scale T

Scale Q

M-test

Assign.

0.58**
1
_
-

0.58**
0.72**
1
-

0.25**
0.39**
0.45**
1

0.07
0.12
0.20*
0.33**
1

*Significant at the 5% level of confidence.

**Significant at the 1% level of confidence.

717

718

C, Carmichael and J. A. Taylor

matter how you study mathematics, you either have the ability or you don't'.
It would seem that most adults subscribe to an incremental view of intelligence,
and this issue is probably not relevant in an adult education context.

6. Summary and conclusion

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate motivational effects on the
performance of students in a Tertiary Preparatory Mathematics Course, At this
stage in the study, only performance data for one assignment were available. Using
the first assignment as a measure of performance it was found that significant
correlations occurred between prior academic knowledge (as measured by a mathematics pre-test), confidence to solve specific mathematics questions, and performance. In other words the evidence suggests that students' assessments on their
confidence to successfully undertake mathematics questions is based, in part, on
their current level of knowledge and skills, and that this will influence their ultimate
performance. Although these results are not surprising, the small effects obtained are
of interest. They seem to indicate that either a much larger sample might be required,
or that such effects may not be so pronounced for the students enrolled in this
preparatory mathematics course.
Female students reported lower levels of confidence in all three scales used - their
actual performance, however, was not significantly different from that of male
students. Similarly students who had spent some years away from study expressed
lower levels of confidence than those who studied mathematics more recently. Yet the
performance of both groups was not significantly different. It is likely that some
students gain motivation from their lack of confidence, and this may be the case for
females and mature aged students. Students with a lower prior knowledge of mathematics were less confident and less likely to outperform students with a high prior
knowledge. In fact, ofthe twenty students who withdrew from the course prior to the
first assignment, 18 obtained scores less than the median in the mathematics pre-test.
Students are able to assess their mathematics confidence to a greater degree of
precision when they are familiar with the material on which they base this judgment.
Consequently results from the question confidence scale were more precise, in that
they correlated with performance, and more clearly demonstrated the effects of
gender and age. However, it is course performance that is the ultimate concern and
it is difficult to comment at this stage on the usefulness of any of these measures in
predicting course achievement. Student beliefs on intelligence did not appear to be
a factor that infiuenced their confidence or their performance. The majority of
respondents indicated that they believed intelligence was incremental and that
there was value in hard work.
As teachers we are only too aware of the importance of motivation on
mathematics achievement. However, actually identifying this motivation to the
degree that we can measure its effect is not an easy task. It is obvious from
the initial findings of this study that more data need to be obtained in order to have
the statistical power to identify such motivational effects. Certainly the initial results
suggest that the effect of mathematics confidence on student performance in a tertiary
preparatory context is far more complex than first thought. Older students who lack
confidence and indeed adequate prior knowledge and skills, may have gained through
life's experiences a determination (as opposed to a confidence) to overcome these and

Analysis of student beliefs in a tertiary preparatory mathematies course

719

succeed. Further researeh on student beliefs on the value they place on learning and
their enjoyment of such learning may be needed in order to clarify the role of
motivation on performance for tertiary preparatory mathematics students.

References
[1] Garcia, T. and Pintrich, T.R., 1994, In: B.J. Zimmerman (Ed.) Self-regulation of Learning
and Performance (Lawrence Eribaum Associates).
[2] Ironsmith, M., Marva, J., Harju, B. and Eppler, M., 2003, Motivation and performance
in college students enrolled in self-paced versus lecture-format remedial mathematics
courses. Journal of Instruetional Psychology, 30, 276-285.
[3] Bandura, A., 1997, Self-efficacy: The Exercise of Control (New York: W.H. Freeman
& Co.).
[4] Pintrich, P.R. and De Groot, E.V., 1990, Motivational and self-regulated learning
components of classroom academic performance. Journal of Educational Psyehology,
82(1), 3 3 ^ 0 .
[5] Sloan, T., Daane, C.J. and Giesen, J., 2002, Mathematics anxiety and learning styles:
what is the relationship in elementary preservice teachers? School Scienee and
Mathematies, 102(2), 84-87.
[6] Tobias, S., 1980, In: I.G. Sarason (Ed.) Test Anxiety: Theory, Research and Application
(New Jersey: Lawrence Eribarum Associates).
[7] Awang-Hashim, R., O'Neil, H.F. and Hocevar, D. 2002, Ethnicity, effort, self-efficacy,
worry, and statistics achievement in Malaysia: a construct validation of the Stait-Trait
motivation model. Educational Assessment, 8, 341-364.
[8] Bong, M., 2004, Academic motivation in self-efficacy, task value, achievement
goal orientations, and attributional beliefs. The Journal of Educational Researeh, 97,
287-297.
[9] Multon, J., Brown, S.D. and Lent, R.W., 1991, Relation of self-efficacy beliefs to academic
outcomes: a meta-analytic investigation. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 38(1), 31-38.
[10] Pajeres, F. and Graham, L., 1999, Self-efficacy, motivation constructs, and mathematics
performance of entering middle school students. Contemporary Educational Psychology,
24, 124-139.
[II] Stevens, T., Olivarez, A., Lan, W.Y. and Tallent-Runnels, M.K., 2004, Role of
mathematics self-efficacy and motivation in mathematics performance across ethnicity.
Journal of Educational Research, 97, 208-221.
[12] Pajeres, F. and Miller, M.D., 1994, The role of self-efficacy and self-concept beliefs in
mathematical problem solving: a path analysis. Journal of Educational Psyehology, 86,
193-203.
[13] Stodolsky, S.S., 1985, Telling math: origins of math aversion and anxiety. Educational
Psychologist, 20(3), 125-133.
[14] Dweck, C.S. and Leggett, E.L., 1988, A social-cognitive approach to motivation and
personality. Psyehologieal Review, 95, 256-273.
[15] McKenzie, K., Gow, K. and Schweitzer, R., 2004, Exploring first-year academic
achievement through structural equation modelling. Higher Education Research and
Development, 23(1), 95-112.
[16] Winne, P.H., Jamieson-Noel, D. and Muis, K.R., 2002, In: M.L. Maehr (Ed.) Advances in
Motivation and Achievement, Vol. 12 (Amsterdam: JAI press).
[17] Nielsen, I.L. and Moore, A.M., 2003, Psychometric data on the mathematics self-efficacy
scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 63(1), 128-138.
[18] Clarke, J.A., Bull, D.D. and Clarke, J.R., 2004, USQ's Tertiary Preparation Program:
More than 15 years of evolution in distance preparatory/bridging programs.
Paper presented at the Building Foundations Conference, Newcastle.
[19] Taylor, J.A. and Mohr, J., 2001, Mathematics for math anxious students studying at a
distance. Journal of Developmental Edueation, 25(1), 30-37.
[20] Stipek, D. and Gralinski, J.H., 1996, Children's beliefs about intelligence and school
performance. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 397-407.